I've used BCP's, condoms and the Mirena IUD. I hated them all Really I have no idea what I am going to use whenthe times comes around next.
NFP is intersting, I seriously doubt my ability to use it correctly!

See, I would like to try NFP but 1) I dont trust myself to do it right and 2) I'm with Sam on this one myself and DH are BOTH fertile Myrtles Ive been preg. 3 times (1 full term pregnancy, obviously) 2 times I was on the pill. I kinda sorta chart. I know when Im O'ing on those days we use SPERMICICE AND CONDOMS LMBO! If we didnt we'd definitley have Baby #2 here or on the way

Yes yes yes....we are very fertile together. I was on the BCP when I got pregnant with DS. With harper I was on the patch, I went off it, had a period, a month later I got a + pregnancy test (which that one SHOULDNT have happened because dh was traveling and the spermies had been in there 5 days!!!) AND this time around...my IUD had come out and I knew I wanted TTC but dh wasnt ready yet...so he just wasnt gettin any(no chances!)....LOL he called me and said "LETS DO IT" (meaning lets go for #3) 13 days later (YES 13 days) I got a + pregnancy test.

We are so fertile together if we were the last man and woman on earth I think we could re-populate it.

Now I wish we could give some of our fertile vibes to our neighbors...they have been trying for a month and a half or so...I just think "hmm, I wonder what its like to have to TRY to get pregnant"

Hmmm..maybe I should send him in for the V and get my tubes tied BOTH...and use spermacide...you think that would work?

I always joke around with dh telling him that if he cheated on me he wouldnt beable to hide it because he would have another kid running around. I guess I blame him for being the fertile one...but I think its both of us

We use bc and condoms. I am on the 3 month deal where you only have a period every 3 mos. I like is as I have TONS of back probs and my period makes it so bad I cannot function. These pills are a lower hormone level then the Orthocyclen I was on before but I still have no sexual drive. DH and I were talking about them recently and I told him since we use both types of bc then I should just get off the pills. BUT, that means 1 1/2 weeks of pain that no medicine will help every month when I have my period.

I want one more but dh doesn't. I guess I should say, he doesn't want any right now. Honestly, I don't either but I want another sooner rather than later. With my back history there is a lot that has to go into getting preggers and then suffering while preggers so we have to be really careful and sure we want one!

DS is 2 1/2 yo and we talked about having another when he is 5 yo so we don't have more than one kid in college at a time. DH is a tight wad! Money is what holds him back everytime it comes up. Not to mention we don't have room in our house and we'd have to move if we had a girl (we could stay with a boy but it'd be hard!).

We got preggers with ds the second month we were trying so I know we don't have preg problems!

I second the motion for NFP. I'm a Promoter for my parish and there are so many more couples out there that have such a huge list of complaints about all forms of birth control and I've yet to hear anything sincerely positive. Yes I hear the "I'm not pregnant right now" sound bytes but about 99% of the people that give me that line caveat it with "but I sure would like another".

Putting your faith and trust in artificial birth control is like putting your faith and trust in an automobile while sitting on your hands instead of them being on the wheel, trusting it to "drive itself and yet keep you protected from all harm at the same time." You have to know where to put your trust and have faith that it'll work. And sometimes, life doesn't happen according to OUR plan.

It's also a mentality you must adapt to. Being open to life is not an easy mentality to adapt to when society is telling you 2.3 children should make you happy, any more than that and you're being selfish and demanding help from others. It's also hard to realize that we actually have to take an active role in self control so when we are fertile (and also at our most amorous for us women) we practice that self control and NOT have sex during the fertile time if we don't want to get pregnant. The operative phrase is self control. We take a passive control when we use birth control, therefore we allow the artificial pills, hormones, shots, surgeries, and other contraptions to "protect" us from a natural occurance (fertility).

Read through some of the above posts and you'll see a few "I like (insert BC here) but it kills my sex drive" comments. That right there would send off a few warning bells. I might not want to get pregnant this or that month, but why on God's green earth would I want to kill my sex drive?

Ok, I've talked enough ... this is just my view so I hope no one takes offense to it. I like reading through the different thoughts and opinions on birth control as it's such a hot button issue on some other boards, so it's nice to see a thread that isn't blasting one or the other.

__________________I have not been on much in the past few months, please be patient with me returning PM's.

Well, I'm definitely going to have to decide on something about nine months after the baby is born...I know from experience that while exclusively/"biologically" breastfeeding I am infertile for about a year after giving birth...for the past few years, we've just used condoms for those few months between the return of my fertility and deciding to TTC. Wasn't a long time period.

I'm very leary of hormonal options; plus I don't like what they do to my sex drive...having a healthy libido while mothering little kids is hard enough, I don't need something artificially making it harder, kwim?

I'm also concerned about IUD's from everything I've read/heard.

So...not sure what we'll do. We are EXTREMELY fertile - that really annoying kind of couple where he looks at me while I'm ovulating and I get pg, kwim? Plus, I know from charting in the past that I have a LOT of "fertile fluid" -- two weeks worth each 35 day cycle -- so we'd have to do a lot of avoiding/barrier method use to try and avoid getting pg if we use NFP...and I'm not sure I want that to go on for years.

That being said, I don't like the permanence of getting DH sniped or my tubes tied...I'm only (almost) 25 and I am not ready to end my child-bearing years, even though I'm thinking this will be my last. Just seems to permanent for me. Same for DH's surgery.

I'm definitely considering something like a diaphram; just so we'd have an alternative to condoms all the time, since I'm not real fond of those.

I jokingly say that Dh has a choice between a vasectomy and condoms. He doesn't want more kids so that's the incentive for him. Right now it's condoms. I am intrigued by NFP, but I don't trust myself if that door is opened. I trust NFP, but not myself! We've only ever had sex with no birth control when I got pregnant with twins and that was like 4 times (well, besides when I was pg lol). Am I the only one who actually likes the fact that condoms are less "messy"? We use the new Trojan Elexa condoms and the aren't so bad for either of us.

Same here Bethany. I don't want more, but I don't ever want to lose that option. It's just way to final. I am only 26. I know someone who had it done, he is 25 and now divorced, his new gf wants kids someday.

This is an interesting thread to watch because I want more (for some CRAZY reason) and my dh doesn't. Right now we are using condoms; but I hate them. I want Dh to get a V, but he is not at all receptive about the idea. He is perfectly fine using condoms. Condoms are just a lot more work for me, I know that sounds crazy; but I have to take mega doses of folic acid while TTC or else I get fatal results, so I feel like while the possibility is still out there I have to keep up the regimine (I don't know how you spell that word). Whereas, if he had the V I could just move on with my life and enjoy myself. As I am typing this out I just realized I should really share all of these things with him. I don't think I've mentioned the folic acid debate. Humm...